Improvement in machine for cleaning cotton



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BENJAMIN J. F. OWEN, OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE.

Letters Patent No. 85,024, dated December 15, l8'68.

yIIVIIEIROVEMIEI:ANTE IN MACHINE FOR CLEANING COTTON.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, BENJAMIN J. F. OWEN, of Meinphis, in the county of Shelby, and State of Tennessee, have finvented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Cleaning Cotton; and I do hereby declare the following to b e a full, clear, and exact description thereof, sufficient to enable others skilled inthe art to which the invention appertains, to illy understandv and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part of this specification, and in which- Figure l Ais a vertical central section of Amy improved machine, the line :c sc, g. 7, indicating the plane of section.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the machine, the upper portion of the cotton-box, together with the rotary beating and farming-device, being removed, the better to exhibit other parts.

Figures 3, 4,5, and 6 are detached viewsf parts, to be hereinafter referred to in detail.

Figure 7 is a front elevation of the machine.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

The subject of this invention is a machine in which the cotton is cleaned byfbeing subjected to the combined action of afan-blast and a number of closelyarranged stationary and revolving spikes or beaters.

The features of novelty and utility in my machine are- First, a fan armed with spikes or prongs in such a manner as to constitute a combined fanning and beating-instrument. l

Second, a riddle, situated at the discharge-opening, and made adjustable, as to inclination, by means of its supporting-rod, in order to project the cleaned cotton to a greater or less distance from the machine, in sepaiatingthe same from the burrs, stems, and trash.

Third, a mode of constructing the cotton-box in sections, wherebythe spikes or beaters are made readily accessible for repair or replacement.

In the drawings- A may represent the upper, and

A, the lower part of a wooden or other case, termed the cotton-box, which, together with the other parts ofthe machine, is supported upon a suitable frame, B. A plan View of the interior of the lower portion of the'cotton-box is presented ing. 2. v

a a a are spikes or prongs driven into the sides of the cotton-box, 'and projecting Vwithin' the said box from opposite directions, as shown in iig. 2.

, C, represents a fan, which is shown detached in iig. 4.

The arms of this fan are vprovided with spikes or prongs, c c c.

The fan G occupies and revolves within the box AA, its shaft, (l2-being confined in bearings D, upon the upper side-pieces of the frame B, by the dovetailed blocks D. (see figs. 2 and 3,) or otherwise.

The prongs a and c are so disposed and arranged that the prongs c,in revolvingwith the fan C, pass between, but in close proximity to the prongs a.

The fanG is driven through the medium of a belt applied to the pulley C2, on shaft G of the fan.

I prefer to construct the cotton-box with a lining, that is to say, to form each side of said box of two distinct pieces, which being joined together face to face, with the grain ofthe respective pieces running in different directions, aiford a more'durable and secure support for the spikes a, the embedding of whose ends in the two thicknessesl of wood enables them to electually resist blows, pressure, or forceapplied in different directions.

The lining of t'he` casing is indicated by dotted line indi 7.

lTe lower part of the cotton-box rests in notches or mortises in the lower part of the frame B, and is thereby held against lateral displacement.

The central portion of the cotton-box consists of two detachable sections, A2, whose lining may be so applied as to form rebates along the edges, which rebates, in connection with projections on the sections, and corresponding apeitures in the upper and lower parts of cotton-box, may serve to join the several parts of said box together.

While the lower part of the cotton-box is held against sidewise movement in the frame B, as before stated, the

Acotton-box is likewise held at a point above, in consequence of the ends of the sections A2 A2 resting in notches or mortises in the upper cross-bars of the frame B. v

The sides of the upper and of the lower part ofthe cotton-box are connected to the parts between Asaid sides by screw-bolts and nuts, in such manner that said sides may be readily detached from the intermediate parts, thus facilitating the renewal or-'adjustn ment of the .pins a.

The several parts, A A A, of the cotton-box are held rmly together by bars EE E E, (four in number,) each pair of which is connected together at the top and bottom of the cotton-box by the screw-bolts e e e el and nuts e2.

The mode of applying these bars will be understood by reference to gs. l and 7.

The bars and screw-bolts firmly brace and stay the cotton-box, and :permit the parts of the same to be detached and separated with facility, as the said bars E may be raised and removed with the upper part of the cotton-box, when the lower screw-bolts e are withl drawn.

The cotton-box has a cent-ral opening, through w hich or pulling action of the spikes c anf' c serves to thoroughly loosen and separate 'the cotton, thereby not only separating some of the dust and dirt therefrom, but enabling the fan-blast to act more eii'ectively upon the same.

The fan O ultimately ejects the cotton from the cotton-box, through the opening at I, leading into the chute J.

The cotton being thus ejected into the chute J with no inconsiderable force, impinges against a riddle, K, (see iig. 6,) which is suitably hinged to the cotton-box at one end, and made adjustable vertically at its opposite end by means of its supporting-rod, m, which may be shifted from a lower to a higher position in the vertical series of apertures in the sides ofthe chute J.

By changing the inclination of the riddle K, and thereby varying the angle of incidence, the cotton will be projected to a greater or less distance from the machine, it being necessary, under some circumstances or conditions of the'cotton, to project it further than the distance to which the cotton is thrown is increased by raising the outer endof the riddle K, and diminished b ylowering the same.

Having thus described my invention,

What I claim as new herein, and desire to secure by Letters Paten-t, in

l. A fan armed with spikes or prongs c c, arranged' as described, and applied to and-operating in a cottoncleaning machine, substantially as set forth.

2. An adjustable riddle or deiiector, K, arranged, in I relation to the discharge-opening I, substantially as and for the purpose `set forth.

3. The' cotton-box, composed of the detachable parts A A A2, substantially as and for the purpose explained.

Tovthe above specication of my improvements in machines for cleaning cotton, I have signed my hand, this 11th day of July, A. D.'1868. Y

BENJ. J. F. OWEN.

Witnesses:

CHAs. D. SMITH,

JOHN A. WIEDERSHEIM. 

